“I wear red, the color of blood, in tribute to their lost lives. And the harder I try to cast it aside, to find the gentler path, the more irresistibly I am drawn back. I should have died myself with those that I loved. Instead I carted the bodies by the hundreds, by the thousands, from the death house to the crematorium, and the ashes to the burial ground. Asking myself now what I could not then—Why was I spared?”-Magneto, Uncanny X-Men #274
Holocaust victim, mutant outcast of an unforgiving society, terrorist: all these words describe one man: the controversial Max Eisenhardt (a.k.a. Magnus, Erik Lehnsherr, Deus Maximus, and of course, Magneto). As a small jewish child, Max and his family were captured, lined up into a trench, and shot by Nazi soldiers. Although his parents were killed, Max's mutant powers over magnetic fields emerged just enough to deflect the bullets from himself, he was later recaptured and taken to Auschwitz, one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps. After his release, he married, and had a child, who died during a fire. Trying to save his wife and child from the fire, he found about his mutant ability and was able to save his wife, however his daughter died when Max was attacked by a mob who saw him use his powers. His wife, pregnant with his twins (whom he later found and tried to take care of), left him, fearing his abilities, and Max was continually discriminated against for being a mutant.
The next time he appeared in the public eye, he was wearing red and going by the name of Magneto. Because he had been mistreated so badly by the humans, he intended to extinguish the species of homo sapiens to "free" and bring up the species of "homo superior" (mutants). This is what I want to talk about. Magneto has been mistreated his entire life, whether because he was a Jew or because he was a mutant, and I can see why someone would want to try to right those wrongs. What the Nazis did to the Jews is, in my opinion, unforgivable, and what some humans were doing to the mutants were horrible as well. I mean, all Magneto wanted to do was make Earth a better place for his fellow mutant right?
Although I agree with the idea that Magneto had, that mutants deserve to be treated just as well as humans (if not a little better since they have superpowers), but the way Magneto went about it was not only wrong, but also, in the end, had an extreme negative consequence for mutants. First off, Magneto did not just have public demonstrations, his idea of a demonstration was to attack politicians and other human areas regardless of innocent bystanders. He even formed a "Brotherhood of Evil Mutants" to help him fight against his old friend Charles Xavier's X-Men. It's not like there weren't other groups trying to do the same as him but in a better way either. Charles Xavier and other well-respected mutants were often in Washington politically fighting against any anti-mutant agendas (often inspired by Magneto's terrorist acts). However, Magneto's past and his hate for humans has blinded him to all other ways to advance mutant kind, so he makes himself a villain. In an attempt to help their father be happy and love them (Magneto had often neglected his children in as his goal of mutant domination consumed his life), Magneto's son, Pietro (a.k.a. Quicksilver) has his twin sister, Wanda (known as the Scarlet Witch, able to create alternate realities), create a reality in which Magneto was the ruler of the mutant nation of Genosha. Although all was essentially well, it was not the true reality, and when the X-Men realized that none of it was real and attempted to put a stop to the Scarlet Witch, Magneto angered her to the point that she took away 98% of the world's mutants' powers, including Magneto's.
In the end, Magneto's attempt to get his way through force failed miserably. Not only did the world hate him, but he forced his agenda to a point where there were almost no mutants left. This shows a key moral. Sometimes, things must be done to change the world for the better. How this change comes about, however, is almost as important as the change itself. Magneto tried to destroy human kind to help the mutants, but in the end destroyed the mutant species. As we go about our lives trying to obtain different goals such as a good career, a good family, a good life, we must make sure that the way we do it is also good. There's a famous quote: "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions." Just because the goals is a good goal, that does not mean that the goal justifies any means.
For further insights into the lessons taught by Magneto, please check out http://www.magnetowasright.com/. It has other lessons, quotes, biography, etc. Also, as with all my posts, I'm always open to feedback, so please let me know any thoughts, ideas, or even arguments.
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